


As A Prayer

by Cymbre



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, deity!ennoshita
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-05
Updated: 2019-07-05
Packaged: 2020-06-09 20:09:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19483108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cymbre/pseuds/Cymbre
Summary: While practicing with his volleyball team, third year Tanaka Ryuunosuke stumbles upon a tiny, rundown shrine. After a slight misshap, he decides to fix it up in his free time. Before Tanaka knows it, a god moves in.





	As A Prayer

_Has it always been this steep?_ It was a question Tanaka asked himself everytime the volleyball team had to run up this stupid hill during their outdoor training. If he was honest with himself, he could see the improvement in the team's stamina despite the complaints. That didn’t stop the ache in his legs as he sprinted to the top and around the curve of the road. Tanaka saw the small group of runners who had gone before him and Nishinoya, slowing as he approached. Tanaka heard the yelling and had just enough time to sidestep the pair of runners barreling by. He righted him. Honestly, it’s a miracle they’ve gone this long without the two colliding into anyone yet.

“It never ends with them, does it,” Narita commented as they watched Hinata and Kageyama race past them, lost in whatever competition they’d thought up this time. Even in their second year not much had changed. Tanaka and the others laughed as Nishinoya tried to call the idiots back.

Tanaka pressed a water bottle into one the first years’ hand, the boy thanking him between breathes.

“How...do they have.... so much energy?”

Tanaka shrugged, grinning as he steered another runner off the road and towards the rest of their group. 

“I wish I knew. I could always use the energy.”

Most of the first years collapsed as soon as they reach their seniors, this being the farthest they’ve run so far.

“Oi!” Kinoshita called out to another first year decided his stop point was the middle of the road. “Get out the road. You’re gonna be in the way of traffic.”

Tanaka felt eyes on him and the feeling of someone standing over him. He turned away from his teammates, bottle in hand. No one was there. Tanaka frowned, tuning back into Nishinoya’s conversation with Tsukishima while they waited for the stragglers to file in. A few seconds passed and the feeling was there again, closer. He tried to ignore it. And did a good job of it until something scrapped the nape of his neck. Tanaka slapped his neck and looked again, hoping to catch the offender in the act. But none of the other boys were nearby save for the small group he currently occupied. Tanaka frowned.  
What the hell? Maybe it was the heat biting at his skin. But then he heard something mingled in with the voices around him, almost too quiet to hear. _A bell?_ He heard the jingle for a moment

“Alright! Break’s over. Let’s head back to clean up.”

A light tap on his shoulder brought him back to the present. Tanaka looked down at Yachi, who was carrying a small crate to gather up the water bottles. “Is everything alright, Tanaka-san?” 

The team was picking themselves off the pavement, groaning about their break being over. “Yea. It’s probably thing,” he said as he passed the bottle to her. He squinted in the direction of the bell sound. If he went now, he’d still have time to get back to the school before Ukai noticed. Tanaka set off in a jog. 

“Where are you going, Ryu?”

He turned to see Nishinoya jogging in place as the others began their trek back to the school. Tanaka waved him on. “There’s something I need to check. I’ll just be a minute.”

Noya nodded, off to catch up with their group, leaving Tanaka to navigate the roads of their town on his own. Minutes passed and he worried that he’d lost whoever he was after. Tanaka stopped to catch his breath, taking in his surroundings before starting off again. Maybe they had turned down a side alley. There were more than a handful that folks used as shortcuts towards their destination. Another turn and Tanaka was ready to call it quits and headed back to the school. If he stayed any longer, Ukai would have some harsh words for him. 

Except.

In the distance, turning a corner, was the flash of dark fabric and the sound of bells, louder despite how far they were from him. Tanaka started running again. There was no reason for him to be chasing after images he probably dreamt up in the heat but there was something pushing him on. The urge to catch it before it slipped away and he didn’t know why. 

But when he reached the end of the street, another intersection of walkways with a bench pressed against a sloping wall, there was nothing there to greet him. Not a ghost of fabric or the sound of bells. He sighed loudly and wiped the sweat from his face. Of course it was nothing. Probably nothing to begin with.

He turned to go back and heard the snap of wood. He brought his foot back at the sound.  
It was easy to miss the tiny building. The shrine was hidden by the overgrowth, overtaking the slanted roof and the door Tanaka had accidently kicked in. Tanaka bent down.

_Shit._

He pulled the bent door out, careful not to damage it anymore than he’d already had. A closer look revealed rusted hinges and bits of decaying wood after years of rain and abandonment. It was an easy fix with the right tools. He could do it. Probably. Whether it would be easy or not was an answer for another day.

Tanaka clapped his hands together. “I’m sorry about the door. And I don’t mean to leave it broken like this but I’ll be back to fix it so please don’t curse me.”

Tanaka stood and with a final look down the street, started his run back to the school. He almost passed a few of their slower runners before they made it back to the gym. Everyone else was cleaning, putting the gym back in order before heading home for the day. Hinata tore himself away from his argument with Kageyama and bound toward him.

“Noya-san said you went off somewhere!” The smaller boy leaned forward and whispered. “Was it secret training?”

Tanaka laughed, ruffling Hinata’s orange hair before steering them both back to the floor. “Just something that caught my eye. Nice work today, Hinata.”

Tanaka helped put away the remaining equipment and ushered the underclassmen, particularly Hinata and Kageyama, from the building. As they walked home, he considered how to go about fixing the shrine. It looked pretty banged up but looks could be deceiving. He’d do a bit of reading before he went back. 

***

On his next free day, Tanaka went back to the shrine. It took him a few wrong turns before he found it again, still hidden among the underbrush. He cleared away the fallen branches weighing down on the tiny structure, revealing the entire structure. It must have been there for decades.

An easy fix, he had said. Now, Tanaka found himself pouring over home magazines and model kit forums for the best way to fix the shrine. He was so engrossed in videos that Saeko had snuck into his room and spooked him a few times much to his embarrassment. 

Restoring the shrine was a slow process. He had decided to fix the door first since that was the main reason for this project. But after removing the door, Tanaka noticed the walls slowly warping into themselves. He’d have to do something about it before reattaching the new door. Fixing the walls meant taking off the roof, which pretty much crumbled in his hand when he pried it loose. One problem slowly leading to another. The whole thing was turning out to be more work than necessary. That just made Tanaka dig deeper into the sites. 

And while he was occupied, Tanaka felt like he was being watched but no one was there whenever he chanced a look away from his work. While a bit annoying, Tanaka didn't mind it too much. He didn't feel unsafe. If anything, it made him curious. But if he spent his time chasing after feelings he’d never get this done. So he ignored it as best he could and worked until he left for the day, planning his next visit despite ghostly eyes.

**Author's Note:**

> This was actually inspired by a post I saw on tumblr forever ago and finally decided to post the part I had since it's been living on my computer for months. I'll probably touch it up a bit later.
> 
> Anyway, thanks for reading!


End file.
